


You Brightened Up My World, and It Was Overwhelming

by Prank (NekoPrankster218)



Series: Popular Fanfiction Tropes the Series (based on the ColeyDoesThings videos) [10]
Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Romance, M/M, Minor Spoilers, Not Beta Read, Prologue Spoilers, implications of Canon Rewrite, implied Hero/Mari, minor horror at end, non-canon, soulmates: see color for the first time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28589820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoPrankster218/pseuds/Prank
Summary: Then, one day, that all had to change. One boy just had to move to their neighborhood. One boy just had to knock on his door. One boy just had to appear before his eyes…“Hi there, my name’s Basil! I just moved here and-”In just one moment, his world changed from monochrome to bright. Too bright.(Fulfills the "Soulmates: See Colors for the First Time" trope. Note: won't end with a love confession, sorry; this is just Sunny introspecting and being angsty. Only minor spoilers from the first 2-ish hours of gameplay, reimagined in a new context to fit this AU.)
Relationships: Basil/Sunny (OMORI)
Series: Popular Fanfiction Tropes the Series (based on the ColeyDoesThings videos) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1614532
Comments: 7
Kudos: 250





	You Brightened Up My World, and It Was Overwhelming

_“The phenomenon has so far been documented in 1,000 cases worldwide. This number is expected to grow as more and more mutated individuals realize their situation and report it. Parents are advised to watch their children’s behavior around color closely. The source of the outbreak is still unclear, and a cure is still being researched…”_

Sunny scanned the black text on white paper. He hadn’t been able to understand this newspaper when it first came out, around maybe 7 years ago now. Many of the words had been above his reading level. Regardless of that fact, his mother took the paper away from his younger self and told him to read something else. The protection wasn’t necessary at the time. He always thought…

That the difference between “red” and “blue” and “yellow” and “green” were so subtle, he’d be slow to learn them. They looked almost identical to his short black hair, his black eyes, his white skin, his black shirt, his white shorts, his black shoes. Would it matter to learn any other color, when everything around the house was covered in black and white?

It wasn’t until he entered the classroom for his first day of school that he realized how wrong he was. Mommy and Mari had always agreed with him on what the shade of something was. Yet, the teacher fought with him constantly, and the students would laugh off most of his observations. He had always thought he was right about these things.

“So, you’re one of the poor children my mom and dad talked about?” A girl with long hair asked him as they waited to be picked up from school. “The ones who can’t see color?”

As ostracizing that statement had felt to him - and still did to this day - the girl held genuine curiosity. She had stayed with him until Mari arrived to walk him home. She joined him in listening to Mari’s solemn explanation. She promised to be his eyes and point out what each color was whenever he needed help.

That girl had been Aubrey, and she was Sunny’s first friend. The brothers Hero and Kel joined their friend group not long after - each respectively being in Mari’s and Sunny’s classes. Kel could be a little insensitive about Sunny’s monochrome sight, although he’d always apologize when called out. Some kids just don’t notice the meaning of what they say.

Still, friendships can only fill so much of the void. He always had this bad feeling in the back of his mind. About his friends only pitying him. About them possibly replacing him if someone better came by. About them never being able to relate to him, and vice versa, because of this divide.

Maybe that’s why it showed up in his dreams one day…

**_WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE_ **

A place practically _made_ for Sunny.

**_YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER_ **

Or rather, for who he becomes when he enters…

**_OMORI_ **

A black and white world for a black and white boy. Somewhere where everyone looks like him and sees everything the same way he does. A place where the only thing that makes him different is his uncanny ability to solve their problems and defeat their enemies. Even his friends and Mari were with him, too!

He’d plan to stay in White Space forever, if it weren’t for the four reasons that kept him coming back to the waking world in the morning. Aubrey. Kel. Hero. Mari…

For so many years, they had been his only reasons. Sure, they were _also_ in White Space. Except...sometimes he got tired of their White Space selves. They weren’t always the same. They weren’t always the usual selves that drew him to them in the first place. Deep down, he really did value their real world selves - even if he felt self-conscious around them.

Then, one day, that all had to change. One boy just _had_ to move to their neighborhood. One boy just _had_ to knock on his door. One boy just _had_ to appear before his eyes…

“Hi there, my name’s Basil! I just moved here and-”

Sunny could never recall what the rest of the sentence was. By then, he had already collapsed, clutching his head. His eyes closed from overstimulation, which also gave him the worst migraine of his life. He could feel the boy holding onto him, hear him ask if he was okay, and hear him yelling for anyone to come help. Sunny refused to open his eyes, though.

In just one moment, his world changed from monochrome to bright. Too bright. Too bright and colorful. It overwhelmed him. Flashing pastels and popping neons. Was this what everyone could see all the time?! And they all had pitied _him_?!

_“Recent discoveries have shown the benefits of finding these ‘special someones’, as the leaked report describes them. It’s still unknown what makes them stand out, and the effect only works on one infected patient per one ‘special someone’. The pairings are still completely random, which also makes this research difficult. The whistleblower who shared this information has gone into hiding, with no reason apparent as to why researchers have kept it secret. Is this not the cure thousands have been waiting for?”_

Sunny shook his head at the article. _If only these people had understood back then…_

Despite the rocky introduction, Basil would go on to be the newest addition to the friend group. They organized a warm welcome for him by setting up a picnic in the park. Mari taught them how to make flower crowns, and Basil introduced a new concept to them.

“I’d always liked to take pictures of my friends, when they least expected it…” he admitted.

Kel tilted his head. “Like a creeper?”

Basil blushed and stammered, “N-not like _that_! They’re fun pictures...memories to keep in a scrapbook. The photos look better when they’re completely natural.”

Mari smiled warmly at him. “I think it’s a sweet idea.”

“Well, I mention it because...since I moved here, I decided I wanted to start a new scrapbook, this time with memories from here. Just in case, years from now, anything happens…”

“I’m all for it!” Hero beamed.

Aubrey nodded. “Although maybe you should try using a black and white filter...you know, because Sunny-”

Sunny quickly shook his head, catching them all off guard. “It’s...it’s fine. They’re not really memories if you can’t experience them how they looked in the moment. Either way, it’ll...it’ll look the same for me.”

He felt guilty for lying to his friends. Even to his own family. They all probed him, just to be _sure_ he wasn’t bothered. But that really _was_ the truth…and technically, the lie he kept up was just him avoiding revealing what happened.

Ever since his first meeting with Basil, Sunny no longer saw things in black and white. At first, he thought the impossible finally came to him. He was cured! He could finally see as everyone else did!

It quickly became apparent that that was not the case. He could see color now...except they were the _wrong ones_. Everything was like a children’s picture book. It was nothing how his friends described the world to him. At least his old vision still somewhat looked like reality. If he revealed this new development to them…

So, he kept it hidden from them. It was easy to still pretend everything was monochrome. He lived with that vision for so many years, he’d memorized all the old appearances. Sometimes he’d slip up, but he could usually play it off as him trying and failing to guess what everyone else saw things as.

Only one thing continued to haunt him through life. It was easy to ignore at first, once he noticed it himself. As years went by and bonds were reinforced, though, it got harder and harder.

It started with just a thought...Like, _“Hey, this boy, he’s kinda cute with flowers in his hair.”_ And his smile, how his whole face would just light up; sometimes, even as OMORI, Sunny would feel that joy spread to him. Because Basil couldn’t just stay in the real world. He _had_ to follow him into White Space...and the weird thing was, in White Space, it felt like he’d _always_ been there. That he wasn’t just a “new kid”, a “new friend”. Even in the early days, Basil of the White Space felt as much a part of his life as Mari and his mother. This wasn’t something he had felt with Aubrey, or Kel, or...well, _he_ hadn’t felt it with Hero, but he felt like Mari could relate to Sunny’s situation…

**Love.** It wasn’t an emotion Sunny had felt the need to study before. Happiness, sadness, anger, fear...they were the only ones he noticed that changed his neutrality. And it wasn’t like he felt _no_ love. He’d known family and friendly love. This? The strength of it...it worried him; the intensity, and the target, and what he could deduce it to be-

_“Do I have a crush on Basil?”_

Sunny started asking himself that in high school. He’d grown used to the colors Basil brought him years ago, but the feelings only continued to overwhelm him. Happiness at being around him, sadness when they were apart too long, anger when someone or something made Basil sad, fear that he might lose him for a plethora of reasons...In a way, it was the same as he felt with Mari and his friends. Just... _stronger_. It just kept growing stronger with each day, and each meet-up, and each smile…

The only idea Sunny had at that point was to dig through the rabbit hole of monochrome and pastel colors. Why he could see these things, and why this love was perfectly timed with it. And he wanted to say that all the articles and reports and essays finally gave him clarity. That he could take a deep breath, accept these things, and finally give them a voice. 

Go to his friends and say, “I can see colors now, and they’re greater than I could imagine.” 

And to go to Basil and say, “I love you, and I love your smile, and I love your colors, and I love _you_.”

_“The new consensus: report_ **_any_ ** _changes in color sight. The abnormal imagery and lighting of this new vision has many scientists concerned. They can only hypothesize at the moment - that this is an overload caused by exposure to ‘special someones’. Only future testing can bring to light just how deep the symptoms go, with one affected individual reporting shocking night terrors he never experienced with monochrome vision. With no way to predict who may be connected to who, preventing further cases may come down to luck, as it is now advised to_ **_avoid_ ** _any potential ‘special someones’ if you have monochrome vision…”_

Sunny scanned the black text on white paper. He filled his view with just the articles. Anything to cover up the sight at the door. The crooked blue figure peering through the crack, empty black sockets cutting into him. He spent every hour of the night in White Space; yet even there the _Somethings_ would appear. Blindside him when he least expected them, throwing him back to the white room, closing him off from the rest of the headspace. Forcing him to make a hasty retreat back to the waking world, lest he discover they could reach him in there, too.

**_SUNNY…_ **

He shut his eyes. Plugged his ears. If he couldn’t see it, it wouldn’t be there. If he couldn’t hear it, it’d go away…

**_You are afraid of being alone._ **

**Author's Note:**

> My first published work of 2021! I haven't even finished OMORI yet (*still* in the prologue, my god!), but I'd already had a few ideas for trope fills. This was the most obvious choice, and I'm honored to provide the first Soulmates fic for the fandom (that I'm aware of), even if it doesn't end with an actual romance...that's not to say I don't plan for more Sunny/Basil that *does*, though!


End file.
